This fall I'm doing a study on Jonah - the prophet - with a group of ladies from my church. It's been a great study so far.
The subtitle for the study we're doing is "navigating a life interrupted." When I read that it intrigued me. Who hasn't had life interrupted? Who hasn't found those interruptions hard to navigate at time?
For these first couple of weeks we've been talking about our perspective on interruptions to our lives and how we respond to them.
It only takes a few verses in Jonah for us to see God interrupting Jonah's life. Jonah was a prophet to Israel - tasked with taking God's message to His own people. Then, God came and gave Him a different assignment.
God told Jonah to go to Ninevah and preach. Ninevah wasn't just a city that was not part of the nation of Israel. Ninevah was Israel's enemy. They were a brutal people and it is likely that Israel suffered loss at their hands. Now God was telling Jonah that was where He wanted Jonah to go and preach a message of repentance.
Talk about an interruption . . . God took Jonah's nice, relatively easy life and turned it upside-down with a new assignment.
Have you ever had God do that in your life? Take your plans and the life you've grown comfortable with and turn it upside-down with something new or different He brings your way?
Jonah had a couple of options in how he could see God's change of plans for him. Jonah could see it as an interruption to his life. Or he could see it as a divine intervention.
It changes everything when we see it as a divine intervention when God steps in and changes our plans.
What is a divine intervention? It's when God invites you to be a part of His purposes on earth in a way that may look differently than you planned.
It changes everything when we begin to see things as divine interventions rather than interruptions. Interruptions are often seen as rude or inconvenient or unwanted. Divine interventions are significant opportunities to join God in His plans.
How do you see interruptions to your plans?
What would change if you began to see them as divine interventions instead?
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